Apple hires ex-Microsoft hacker to beef up operating system security

When Apple (AAPL) needs talent, it knows exactly where to look first: the sea of hackers. Kristin Paget, a former Microsoft (MSFT) hacker now officially works for Apple, reports Wired. Paget, now a core operating system security researcher at Apple, was once responsible for discovering bugs in Windows Vista before Microsoft shipped it in 2007. Paget helped prevent “a lot of bugs from shipping on Vista” and we kid you not, was awarded with a T-shirt signed by Microsoft Vice President of Windows Development Brian Valentine that read: “I delayed Windows Vista.” Wired writes Paget’s Vista bugs literally saved the OS from being a complete disaster.

As Macs become more popular, the once “virus-free” computers are becoming more and more vulnerable to attacks and malware. And given the rampant amount of circumvention on iOS, who better to hire than a hacker who enjoys searching for security flaws?

It’s not clear if Paget is working on beefing up security on OS X, iOS, or both, but either way we wouldn’t be surprised if you find future Apple devices more difficult to jailbreak and crack.

We hope for Paget’s sake, she gets more than just a T-shirt this time.